Orthopedic seats may be generally characterized as seats that are contoured so as to provide proper support for the skeletal structure, whereby they promote good posture, thereby permitting the relaxation of the muscles of the body.
Seats of this nature are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,288,525 (CERF); 3,740,096 (BRIDGER) and 3,177,036 (HALTER).
The seats described in these patents are each of a solid one-piece construction. They are moreover, permanently combined with a backrest portion, often the seat and backrest being unitarily molded. Such seats are not suited for easy transportation, for example into stadiums or other public spectator facilities, where the seating provided is often marginal comfort, even for able bodied persons.
Considerable effort has been expended in the past to provide comfortable seating for wheelchairs, for users may be confined for extended periods of time. Moreover, the compressive loading on the gluteus, and on the bony protuberances comprising the ischea and the coccyx may be higher in the case of persons confined to a wheelchair than is otherwise the case, as the reactive forces generated by work effort of the upper body portions will in the main be expended by reactive forces transmitted through the seated areas, whereas a non-confined person may well choose not to be seated at times of higher loadings on the upper body portions.
The seats as envisioned herein are generally for use in conjunction with existing seat units such as chairs, whether wheeled or otherwise. The seat portions of chairs do not conform to any standard, and the front to back distance of such seat portions may vary considerably. Thus, the front to back measurement of the seat portion of a compact wheelchair or a typical secretarial chair is about 35 cms, whereas the seat portion of full size chairs will commonly measure about 45 cms from front to back. The prior art seats are not readily utilizable with a wide variety of different seating units.
As indicated above, orthopedic seats are generally combined into a single unit with an orthopedic backrest. In my U.S. patent, I describe a backrest which is easily portable. It is desirable to provide an orthopedic seat which is also easily portable and which may be readily linked with the backrest, without the use of tools, to form a combination unit.
It is then an object of this invention to provide a readily transportable seat.
It is another object of the invention to provide orthopedic seats that are easily transportable.
It is a further object of the invention to provide orthopedic seats that may be readily adapted for use with different seating units that are already existing.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a portable seat that may be adapted for use with a variety of seat units without requiring tools or the like.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a transportable orthopedic seat that may be combined with a suitable backrest to form an orthopedic seating unit.